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Why don't "Helix" objects have a show/hide button?

ciancicianci Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
in Product Feedback
E.g., the "eye" next to a sketch or a part?

Possibly I'm failing to understand a deeper usage model, but it would seem to me that helices are essentially similar to sketches in that they are "consumed" by later features which depend on them. After which they merely clutter the display.

After much searching, I did eventually find the release note (https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/4209/improvements-to-onshape-july-7th-2016) that indicates it is indeed possible to hide the helix, but the option is only found in the context menu of the rendered object---and specifically not in the context menu for the entry in the feature timeline, which is where I would have expected to find it.

I assume these design decisions were made intentionally, and for good reasons. Can some please educate me as to how I could/should generate better intuitions, since the ones I had were clearly so very wrong?

Thanks!

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Answers

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    jakeramsleyjakeramsley Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 657
    Hi cianci,

    The helix feature generates a curve which will show under the 'Curves' section in the Parts List.  From here you can control the on/off visibility of it.


    Jake Ramsley

    Director of Quality Engineering & Release Manager              onshape.com
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    paul_chastellpaul_chastell Onshape Employees Posts: 124
    @cianci, good question. The approach we took was to consider curve features like helix to be the same as solid and surface features, like extrude. In all those cases we don't provide a hide icon because the feature is maybe just one of may features that act on that thing, be it a surface, solid or curve. So in that sense locating the curve in the curve list to hide it is just like locating the surface or part in that list. Its true that today all official Onshape curve features only ever create new curves, and never modify them, making them seem more like sketches or planes, but that won't always be the case. Similarly curves are listed in the bottom list but sketches and planes aren't.

    Also, just like parts and surfaces, you can right click on the curve in the graphics area to hide it, avoiding hunting through the list.
    Paul Chastell
    TVP, Onshape R&D
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    brett_liggett632brett_liggett632 Member Posts: 2 ✭
    The OP has a really good point.  Make an external screw thread using the helix - triangle - sweep method and all looks good until you translate the screw and discover that the helix WILL NOT TRANSLATE WITH THE PART AND CANNOT BE HIDDEN (at least I cannot find a way to hide the helix in the 3-D view).  What can be done?
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    NeilCookeNeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,377

    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEAI
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    eric_pestyeric_pesty Member Posts: 1,503 PRO
    brett_liggett632 said:
    The OP has a really good point.  Make an external screw thread using the helix - triangle - sweep method and all looks good until you translate the screw and discover that the helix WILL NOT TRANSLATE WITH THE PART AND CANNOT BE HIDDEN (at least I cannot find a way to hide the helix in the 3-D view).  What can be done?
    Curious as to why you would want to translate a screw after creating a thread? I understand this is done in "mesh" modeller, but there really shouldn't be any reason to do this in parametric CAD...

    Also, you can save yourself a lot of effort by using a feature like threadlabs (instead of manually creating an extruded cut along a helix!) But you should be drawing the screw in the right place to start with (probably just centered on the origin in it's own part studio!)
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